After years of tracking the effect of sandblasting on the health of workers, The Clean Clothes Campaign has finally launched an appeal to jeans producers to stop sandblasting their products. Sandblasting can cause an acute form of the deadly lung disease silicosis, putting the lives of thousands of sandblasting operators at serious risk. The technique which is a craze among jeans manufacturers is often performed in small workshops in the informal sector in jeans-producing countries like Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Turkey, India, Brazil and Mexico. In Turkey alone, 46 documented cases of sandblasters contracting silicosis and dyeing have been registered. This is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg.
The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), working together with the Solidarity Committee of Sandblasting Labourers in Turkey, demands from jeans producers that they guarantee that sandblasting is not part of their supply chains. A number of fashion companies and retailers have already banned the sale of such jeans, or publicly announced that they would phase it out over the next few months. Amongst them are Levi-Strauss & Co. and Hennes & Mauritz (H&M). In the next phase starting from January 2011onwards, the CCC will start a consumer action whereby all owners of a pair of jeans can send messages to jeans companies that refuse to ban sandblasting.
Since the legal ban of sandblasting in Turkey (March 2009), jeans producers have moved their sandblasting orders to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Bangladesh and China. One of the reasons sandblasted jeans remain so popular despite the proven health hazard is that each pair takes on a unique pattern of wear and tear that changes over the time. It doesn’t look old – it looks “lived in”. More personal… More “you”.
Sandblasting, an abrasive process to smooth or form surfaces whereby sand is blasted under high pressure has traditionally been used in construction, for metal and ceramics works. In jeans, sandblasting is the erosive/abrasive process applied to denim by air compressors blowing out sand under pressure in order to bleach and to batter the denim. Natural sand contains the mineral silica. Despite health risks, under EU directive, sandblasting is allowed provided that the abrasive materials contain less than 0.5% silica; in the US less than 1% silica and protection gear is provided. It is also demanded that if sandblasting cannot be banned, rigorous work practices must be put in place to protect factory workers from potentially serious harm resulting from exposure to silica.
Levi Strauss and H&M take leadership position…
Even though Levi Strauss & Co. has put in place some of the strictest standards and monitoring programs in the industry to ensure that workers who produce their jeans are not subjected to the risks related to silica, they are unsure that all factories are applying these same safeguards. Taking a stand the brand teamed up with H&M in September this year to announce a global ban on sandblasting in all product lines across all of their brands. “We have been working closely with H&M and share an ongoing commitment to safeguarding workers. We are proud to stand together to make this important commitment to the health and safety of workers across the apparel industry,” said David Love, Senior Vice-President and Chief Supply Chain Officer at Levi Strauss & Co.
This isn’t the first time the brand has taken a first step in hopes of influencing industry practices. Levi Strauss & Co. has always been at the forefront on worker safety. In 1991, the brand introduced the Terms of Engagement, which established guidelines for factories and product suppliers on labour, health and safety, and environmental requirements. “What was an unprecedented step at the time is now a standard practice by most leading companies in the apparel industry,” said Love adding “As the world’s first and largest jeans wear company, we think about how our actions will impact the apparel industry overall. We encourage other companies to join us in this ban, and we hope that it becomes an important step towards eliminating sandblasting as an industry practice.”
H&M has had health and safety requirements for sandblasting for several years. Like all other Code of Conduct requirements, monitoring of sandblasting practices has been part of their extensive Full Audit Programme. “Securing that these standards are being observed by all of our suppliers and their subcontractors has proven too difficult. In order to make certain that no worker producing denim garments for H&M risks his or her health, we have decided to quit purchasing and retailing sandblasted products,” said Karl Gunnar Fagerlin, Production Manager at H&M.
Effective immediately, Levi Strauss & Co. and H&M will not place any new orders for sandblasted products and as of December 31, 2010, the two brands will no longer have any active production that uses this finishing technique. The ban includes, but is not limited to, the use of aluminum oxide, aluminum silicate, silicon carbide, copper slag and garnet for abrasive blasting.
